


robots and androids and cyborgs

by lokh



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25612738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokh/pseuds/lokh
Summary: “Is this,” Keith starts, slowly. The possibility that is dawning on him is far from the most dangerous, but it’s also the most betraying. “Is this anandroids anonymous?”Hunk and Lance stare at him. Pidge is howling with laughter.
Relationships: Hunk/Keith (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	robots and androids and cyborgs

**Author's Note:**

> a response to [a prompt received on tumblr, written april 26 2017](https://lokh.tumblr.com/post/160012942240/a-keithhunk-prompt-one-or-both-of-them-was-a): "A Keith/Hunk prompt: one or both of them was a military, service, or maintenance android that played a role in some war effort or another. Post-war, all remaining androids are integrated into daily society (with or without wiping their military prowess, ability to assault another, confidential memory files, or whatever else suits the mood). And integrating? Easier said than done, but a little help and support can go a long way. They find each other."
> 
> **TW for a brief description of vomiting** in the first few lines

Hunk immediately throws up.

Keith can only stare helplessly at the puddle of oil and tar now pooling on the floor. Hunk wheezes.

“Sorry,” he says, queasily, because that’s apparently a thing that robots do now. “Us old maintenance models – we’re supposed to be like, on the _ground_. Fragile parts, y’know? Not – _shaking_.”

He doubles over and holds a finger up. Keith politely steps back.

When a moment passes and no tar or turbulence is forthcoming, Hunk straightens up, looking a bit worse for wear but smiling nonetheless.

“Sorry about that,” Hunk apologises again. He holds out a hand. “Uh, so yeah. I’m Hunk. You’re Keith, right?”

Keith stares down at the hand. It takes him an inordinately long time to realize that he’s supposed to shake it, but by the time he puts his hand in a too-tight grip, it’s already awkward and uncomfortable all around. Hunk coughs into his free hand, although as far as Keith knows, androids don’t typically cough or get sick, maintenance model or not.

“So, you know Shiro?” Hunk asks, after a pause.

“Yes,” Keith says. He’s realizing that he’s not helping the conversation move along _at all_ , but he has no idea what he’s supposed to be doing to help it. This is _exactly why_ he never bothered to try integrating. “From the Garrison.”

Then, more out of curiosity than for the sake of etiquette, he says, “you know Shiro?”

“Oh, yeah,” Hunk says, nodding enthusiastically. Keith can’t tear his eyes away from the movement. “I knew him from his Garrison days too, but I only got to know him after I started taking over maintenance for his arm. I knew about you too, but I didn’t know you knew Shiro.”

Keith blinks.

“You knew about me?”

“Well, Lance did,” Hunk amends, sheepishly. Keith watches his hand reach up to scratch at his neck. “It’s, uh, hard not to. What with the leaving the Garrison and everything.”

Hunk pauses. He looks at Keith’s face, scanning his expression intently, and it’s only through practice and Shiro’s repeated lectures that Keith stops himself from assuming a defensive stance and whipping out his knife. Whatever he’s looking for, he must have identified it, because he continues.

“Plus, Lance wanted to be in the fighter pilot division, but it’s not often they’ll let humans, augmented or not, in.”

Keith nods, gruffly. The conversation dies its inevitable death, and Hunk whistles to make up for the quiet, staring out into the desert.

For not the first time, Keith wonders where the hell Shiro is and what is he plotting. I want you to meet some people, he’d said. It’ll help you integrate better into society, he’d continued. He had naturally assumed that this meant Shiro would actually be present, but clearly he was getting proved all sorts of wrong today. It’s not like him to be late, and it’s been seventeen minutes since the appointed time. He gives him thirteen minutes. He’s got better things to do, like. Like sharpening knives, or something.

“So,” Hunk starts, and Keith would have jumped if it weren’t for the fact that he still hasn’t managed to shake off the ever-present vigilance. “What do you do?”

Keith looks blankly at him.

“Well. The Garrison’s been shut down. I’m guessing you’re not really, like, blending in with humans and society? And I mean that in the nicest way possible. So what do you do in your spare time? Hobbies? Work?”

Keith stares. His first instinct is to state that it’s none of his business, but if there’s one thing he’s learned about social interaction, it’s that he’s very rarely going to carry it out. Humans small-talk, Shiro said. They do it to be friendly and polite.

Except Keith knows for a _fact_ that the man in front of him is not a human. If it weren’t for the fact that as an android, he’s pretty much programmed to recognise other androids on sight, he probably would’ve been fooled into thinking otherwise. He produces movements that are entirely unnecessary and undirected but somehow makes them appear natural, appear _human_. Keith has seen some androids trying to integrate and blend in, but a lot of them come off as insincere even when they carry out all the steps and actions correctly. Like they’re just carrying out another pre-programmed action. Keith would know – it’s how he often feels when he tries.

“Building,” Keith says, almost absently. Hunk looks surprised that he actually responded. “Or looking. For machines, parts.”

“So when you say building…?”

“Machines. I’ve got a hoverbike.”

“A _hoverbike_!”

Hunk’s eyes are wide with what is unmistakeably awe, and the genuine admiration is making him feel – well, _feel_. So like all other emotions, Keith does his best to stamp it down and away.

“Where are you getting parts for a hoverbike? You buy them?”

“The desert.” Hunk’s eyes go even wider, this time in confusion, and Keith backtracks, tries to find where he went wrong. “I live here. Near the original Garrison headquarters. There’s a lot of scraps, out in the mountain ranges. Sometimes whole machines that are still working.”

He opens his mouth, wants to say more. Then he clamps it shut. Models that were made for the front line don’t tend to be oversharers in general, but he doesn’t want to talk too much or reveal too much unnecessary information. He finishes, instead, with, “you’d be surprised what’s out there.”

“Wow,” Hunk says, still awed. Then, “I thought you were a fighter model?”

Keith shrugs. The movement feels foreign, awkward and forced, but Hunk says nothing, still peering at him curiously.

“Not a lot of fighting to do out in the desert.”

“Still,” Hunk says, shaking his head. “That’s super awesome. Seriously.”

Keith doesn’t know what to say to that. Thank you, probably. It’s not that great, maybe. They don’t feel _right_ , though. Maybe it’s because he’s still not used to holding conversations with people that aren’t Shiro.

“So,” Keith says, tentatively, mirroring the tone Hunk used. Hunk immediately looks up. “What do you do? In your spare time?”

Hunk stares at him.

Then he actually _beams_.

“Well, I still like fixing things here and there and it’s enough to put food on the table,” Hunk says, rapid-fire, and Keith is still stuck on his wide and genuine grin, “but, well.”

He leans forward conspiratorially, cupping his hand around his mouth. Despite himself, Keith ends up leaning forward and playing along, following his lead.

“My favorite thing to do is cook.”

It takes Keith a moment to process the words. Then he leans back, just enough so that he can squint properly at Hunk’s face.

“You… eat?”

Hunk puts a finger to his mouth and waves his other hand vigorously, motioning for him to come closer again. Reluctantly, Keith does so. The entire charade is ridiculous to him, especially since there’s literally no one there but _them_ , but for some reason is too easy to fall into. Much easier than stiff conversations where he doesn’t know what the other person wants from him.

“Okay, so,” Hunk starts at a whisper, eyes shifting. “So maintenance androids don’t taste, right. _But_ , we can smell. That’s mostly for like, smoke or gas leaks or just when something goes wrong and you have to smell it to figure it out. Right, so I can tell you if there’s carbon monoxide in the air, but _food_? I learned to tell them apart, but I still didn’t know what they _were_.

“So Pidge – that’s a friend of mine, she’s an AI for this massive system thing but anyway – tells me, ‘when you smell something you’re supposed to also taste it sort of?’ Because for some reason she can taste things and I can’t, but _anyway_. She goes to me and offers to like, install receptors and stuff to make it so I can taste and like. Yeah, we’ve all been decommissioned but you’re not supposed to tamper with Garrison property or whatever, so we keep it on the down-low but I said hell yeah, why not?

“And, Keith.” Hunk punctuates his statement with an arm around Keith’s shoulders, pulling him in close. Keith tenses, but mostly he’s wondering why a maintenance model android has such soft skin. Maybe that was also a modification? “Keith. Buddy. On the day I first tasted food, I swear I was born for the first time.”

Keith makes a sound. He can’t help it.

It takes him a moment to realize that the sound he’s making is _laughing_.

“Wow,” he says, and he can’t stop. There are no tears gathering in his eyes – androids of his kind aren’t made that way – but he’s sure that if he were human, he’d be sobbing at this point. It takes another minute for his laughter to subside and for his words to become comprehensible, but Hunk still has him pulled in close, eyes on him. “I’ll have to try some of your cooking, then.”

Keith didn’t think Hunk’s smile could get any wider, but at this point he’s welcome to being proven wrong again and again. “ _Seriously_? You won’t regret it – like, not to brag, but I’m pretty damn good at cooking. Lance basically died and went to heaven on the spot, like, humans have _no idea_. Wait, wait, you don’t have taste receptors though?”

“Good thing you’ve got me here.”

The two look over their shoulders at the newcomer. On the edge of the roof stands a kid, short and messy-haired, and behind them a small ship is landing, voices obscured by the slowing engine.

“ _Pidge_?”

Pidge grins smugly.

“Whoa, it really _is_ you! In the flesh! With a body!”

She laughs as Hunk rushes over, spinning her around in his arms. They’re so _comfortable_ around each other. Affectionate, like people. He feels like an outsider, watching in on something he can’t understand, but that’s nothing new. What’s new is something that feels like _jealousy_ , like he wants that sort of affection. Like he’s willing to try for it.

“Yeah!” Pidge says, almost breathless, when Hunk finally settles her down on her feet. “Dad thought it’d be a good idea to get me one. Though Matt wasn’t really happy when I cut the hair and pretended to be him at the academy for a while.”

“What’s happening? The party’s already started?” a voice pipes up from behind Pidge. A tall man comes into view, and he narrows his eyes as he moves past Pidge. “Wait. _Mullet_?”

Everyone turns to look at Keith. Keith’s hand automatically shoots up to touch his hair.

“What are you doing here?”

“What are _you_ doing here?” Keith shoots back, unable to help himself. The guy’s tone was just incredulous and outright _hostile_ – how else was he supposed to react? His fingers even twitch for his knife strapped to his belt – he doesn’t take it. If he’s right about this asshole’s identity, then he’s a human, and augmented or not, he can’t just fight a human apropos of nothing.

“Whoa, Lance,” Hunk butts in, waving his hands in front of Keith. “He’s friends with Shiro! He got invited here, same as us.”

“You know Shiro?” Lance says, still squinting suspiciously, but his voice is no longer as hostile. It doesn’t make Keith like him any more than before.

“Where _is_ Shiro?” Pidge cuts in, pushing up her glasses and surveying the area. Keith checks the time on his internal clock and finds that it’s been forty minutes since Shiro was supposed to show up. Just how long had they been talking, and how did he _not notice_? “He was supposed to be here _first_.”

“Maybe this is a trap,” Lance suggests. “He’s gonna lock us in here until we can form one giant robot superweapon.”

Hunk and Pidge look exasperatedly at him. Keith takes it as a safe sign that Lance was being (mostly) facetious.

Still, as much as he hates to admit it, he’s had his own fair share of doubts about the entire situation. He trusts Shiro, he really does – but there’s too much about his behavior that doesn’t make sense. Keith isn’t exactly a fugitive anymore – still, it’s not unreasonable to have chosen the former Garrison as a meetup spot, especially since most of the people present are non-human. There’s a lot Shiro knows that he hasn’t told anyone, not even _him_. A whole year’s worth of experience he’s never shared. Keith would like to think that it’s just his suspiciousness and paranoia talking, but whatever happened to Shiro in that time had to be dangerous. It’s wishful thinking that maybe Shiro brought them here to _tell_ them something, something important, but what else could it be?

“Is this,” Keith starts, slowly. The possibility that is dawning on him is far from the most dangerous, but it’s also the most _betraying_. “Is this an _androids anonymous_?”

Hunk and Lance stare at him. Pidge is howling with laughter.

“I’m a cyborg, remember,” Shiro’s voice calls out, amused. He emerges from the other side of the roof, Keith notes – meaning it’s more likely that Shiro has been here the whole time and was waiting for his dramatic entrance. He doesn’t comment, though. “And I promise I would never do that to you, Keith. I’ve been doing some thinking, and there’s something I think you should all know.”

He holds Keith’s stare, then nods.

“It’s about a virus called Galra and something called Voltron.


End file.
